Death in Trieste

Norwegian cartoonist Jason (Upside Dawn) delivers a trio of graphic novellas that merge absurdism with moments of surprising pathos, all filtered through his signature minimalist linework and deadpan wit. The title story drops readers into a delightfully strange version of 1920s Berlin, where historical and fictional figures--David Bowie as time-traveler, Nosferatu as actor, Rasputin as mystic--mingle at the fringes of Dadaist performance art. "The Magritte Affair," is a noir send-up featuring trench-coated sleuths and disappearing paintings that pay homage to the surrealist painter's iconography while mocking well-worn detective tropes. "Sweet Dreams" caps the collection with a gleefully bizarre reimagining of 1980s New Wave popular music stars as superheroes on a crusade to protect the innocent against an array of supernatural threats. Throughout, Jason's skillful storytelling, deadpan wit, and careful cultural observations result in fascinating meditations on artifice, identity, and cultural memory. VERDICT Jason is in peak form here, blending historical parody, surrealist riffing, and pop culture mash-ups in stories brimming with inventive humor and sly commentary. A standout even in Jason's already impressive body of work, ideal for fans of literary or offbeat comics, absurdist fiction, and pop culture history.